Chicago Mercantile Exchange (NASDAQ:CME) is now in the second spot right behind Binance for the largest Bitcoin (CRYPTO: BTC) futures exchange driven by an institutional-led rally amid the spot ETF optimism.

The regulated exchange jumped from the fourth position which was seen a few weeks ago. Reporting a notional open interest of $3.54 billion, CME stands behind Binance which reports $3.83 billion in open interest, according to CoinDesk based on CoinGlass data.

Industry titans BlackRock, DTCC, OCC, State Street, Société Générale, Hedera, Citi, BMO, Northern Trust, Citibank, Amazon, S&P Global, Google, Invesco, and Moody’s will join our November 13 Fintech Deal Day and November 14 Future of Digital Assets. Secure a spot here to join them!

Also Read: Binance Faces Leadership Exodus: UK CEO Exits Amid Regulatory Challenges

Notional open interest is the U.S. dollar value locked in the number of active or open contracts. Open interest in offshore exchanges is concentrated in perpetual futures rather than traditional futures contracts. Perpetuals are futures with no expiry using the funding rate mechanism to keep them in sync with the spot price.

CME also saw its cash-settled futures contracts crossing the 100,000 BTC mark for the first time on record. CME shares in the BTC futures market rose to a new lifetime high of 25%, CoinDesk reported. CME’s standard Bitcoin futures contract is equal to 5 BTC while for ETH it stands at 50 ETH; the micro contract is sized at one-tenth of 1 BTC and one-tenth of 1 ETH.

Also Read: CME Group Analysts Increase Their Forecasts After Upbeat Earnings

Binance accounts for 28% of all futures open interest while CME holds 26% of the total, as reported by CryptoSlate. In terms of numbers, open futures contracts have investments totaling 400,000 BTC. Out of this, CME accounts for 103,075 Bitcoin, and Binance contributes 113,419 Bitcoin.

Retail investors also contributed, with ProShares’ industry-leading Bitcoin futures ETF surging 420% to $340 million in the past week, based on Matrixport data reported by CoinDesk. ProShares ETF invests in the CME bitcoin futures.

Price Action: BTC prices have skyrocketed 29% in the past month. Meanwhile, Binance’s past 24-hour trading volume stood at 7.5 billion, while the CME Group reported 664.7 million.  

Benzinga’s Future of Digital Assets conference is scheduled in New York on Nov.14. Attend and learn more about crypto exchanges and the trading of futures contracts. The gathering is seen as pivotal for the digital assets community. The event will spotlight the latest trends, innovations, and challenges in the digital asset realm. 

Now Read: CME Group Analysts Increase Their Forecasts After Upbeat Earnings

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